The Centerboro Public
Library was an impressive building in the gothic style. Freddy admired it for a
moment before heading inside. Placing his fore trotters on the front desk,
Freddy said to the kindly chief librarian, Mr. Harrison-Lee. “I need to see the Necronomicon.”
Mr. Harrison-Lee nodded
and quietly led Freddy to a set of shelves labeled “Special Interest.” Pulling
out a sinister, leather bound tome, the librarian handed it to the pig. “Be
careful, Freddy,” Harrison-Lee said quietly.
Freddy thanked him,
setting the Necronomicon down on a nearby reading table. He began to examine it,
looking for any mention of the words in the chant Archibald had recited.
******************
It was dark when Freddy
set out that night for the meteoroid site. Mrs. Wiggins had wanted to come with
him. But the pig told her that stealth was essential. Freddy told her what he had
learned from the Necronomicon: that Meshelth was one of the Great Old Ones, an
elder being who had once ruled over the Earth before accident or joke created
life as animals and humans know it now; that the chant is an appeal to
Meshelth, and that It can be summoned to this place of existence by performing
a sacrifice on the first of October, a day that apparently has some hideous significance to Meshelth.
“But, Freddy, that’s
tonight. Even if that silly old book is true, you don’t want to get yourself
sacrificed.”
Freddy shook his head.
“That is exactly why I have to go up. I can’t let those creatures summon
Meshelth to our world.”
Mrs. Wiggins shook her
head, exasperated. “Well, at least take Jinx. He’s still awake, over on the
porch. We were just talking about the meteoroid.”
Freddy nodded. “Good
night,”Mrs. W.”
The cow’s big brown eyes
suddenly brimmed with liquid sadness.
“Watch out for yourself, Freddy. This is more dangerous than Mr.
Condiment, or Garble, or the rats.”
Freddy nodded again and
set off to get Jinx. He found the cat on the porch, just as Mrs. Wiggins had
said, and soon the two animals were heading up to the Big Woods. The quickly
darkening sky lent as eerie air to their mission and Freddy found himself
shivering in anxiety.
Suddenly, a coarse voice
called out, “I’m coming too, you animals!”
It was Jonas, running up to them from behind.
Freddy made no
objection; the rough and tumble turkey could be a help on this adventure. They
soon reached the other side of the Big Woods, settling into a spot in the
underbrush that afforded an excellent view of the clearing. For an hour the
trio waited, and whispered arguments about whose paw was on who's tail feathers,
and whose talon was pinching who's tail. Soon enough, however, a procession of
the squirrel abominations marched out into the clearing. There were six of them
in total, and they formed a ring around the meteoroid itself. The squirrel
creature who had spoken earlier started up a chant, but this incantation was
different from the one Archibald had heard.
“Meshelth al’g shig kanneloth!”
he repeated over and over, and other squirrel-like things soon joined in.
Freddy’s face went bone-white.
“I remember that from the Necronomicon … It’s the summoning chant for Meshelth, the elder terror himself! We have to stop it!”
Without waiting for the pig to continue,
Jonas suddenly broke cover and dashed headlong into the center ring of
creatures, bowling over two squirrels and beginning to slap a third with his
tough old wings. Jinx followed, flinging himself at the leader, claws bared.
Normally not one for such blunt tactics, Freddy shrugged and followed, chasing
down the only squirrel still chanting. Leaping at the foe from behind, Freddy
gave the creature a savage bite with his long teeth. The creature stopped
chanting to cry out in anger, turning to the pig with two paws full of ragged
claws. Freddy stared. Squirrels weren’t supposed to have claws. The horror
dealt Freddy a deep scratch on his belly, and here Freddy got really mad (which
also probably had something to do with that overwhelming, rotten perfume).
He bellowed and charged, knocking over his
opponent and continuing on to slam into a squirrel monster that was sneaking up
on Jinx. After a hit like that from a pig of Freddy’s ample girth, not even the
hideous squirrel got up. Meanwhile, Jinx had beaten up the leader and was
fighting another creature, as was Jonas. They both quickly knocked out their
opponents and walked over to Freddy.
Suddenly, the head squirrel stood up
awkwardly as if it was unsteady in its body. Its claws began to grow sharper
and larger in size, its slit of a mouth expanded into a nightmarish, gaping maw,
and a mass of evidently prehensile tentacles exploded from its chest. The beast
approached ponderously, rapidly gaining the feel of its new form. Its tentacles
reached out, gripping Jinx, who kicked and spat. It pulled the feline in
closer, seemingly unbothered by Jinx’s flailing claws, which left no mark on
the monstrosity.
Freddy dashed forward, but even his jaws
had no effect on the thing. For the first time since the Ignormous incident,
Freddy felt pure terror. This thing seemed invincible. Finally, just as the
being brought Jinx in inches from its monstrous mouth, Jinx managed to free
himself, twisting out of the tentacles’ grasp. The … thing roared in fury,
raising its claws and advancing toward Freddy, next to whom Jinx had landed.
The princely pig shut his eyes, trying to remain brave as his grisly fate
approached; his stocky trotters felt too gelatinous to move.
Without warning, four loud BANGs sounded.
Freddy opened his eyes to see the abomination reeling backward. A final BANG
and the creature fell to the ground. The pig and the cat turned to see Jonas
holding a Colt pistol which he had evidently concealed in his feathers. Jinx straightened
up importantly. “I weakened it for you.”
EPILOGUE
The three adventurers told no one about
what they had seen, not even Mrs. Wiggins or Whibley, Jr. After much
persuasion, Freddy got Mr. Bean to go up to the Big Woods and break apart the
meteoroid with a sledgehammer. Inside, they found a large skull of ominous
geometry unlike any living thing on earth. Freddy promised Jinx that he would
bring it to a museum in Syracuse, but instead buried it a ways down the road
after smashing it apart with a hefty rock. After the skull was destroyed, the
life grew back around the landing site within a few seasons. However, Freddy never did
figure out where the degenerated squirrels had come from. He was happy not
to know.
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